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Altered timeline for Loveland Baseball Association

LBA will get in full, but compact, season

By Cali Rastrelli

Sports Writer

Posted:
04/15/2014 05:55:54 PM MDT

Efrain Duran with Bigfoot Turf uses a tractor Tuesday to till the soil in preparation of laying sod on one of the baseball fields at Centennial Park in Loveland. The fields were heavily damaged by the flood, causing a delay in the start of the Loveland Baseball Association season. (Jenny Sparks / Loveland Reporter-Herald)

The floods in Loveland last fall left debris and devastation in their wake. For a few weeks, the state of Colorado had their eyes turned north, doing what they could for the victims. But after the majority of the destruction was cleared away, the floods slipped out of the news. However, the city is still battling lingering effects.

The season for summer baseball leagues around the country is set to begin in a couple of weeks, but the Loveland Baseball Association has been forced to work with a different timeline. The Centennial Fields complex, the main playing area for both competitive and recreational summer leagues, was almost entirely demolished last fall in the flood.

While the city has been working tirelessly to reconstruct the fields in time for the start of the season, the sheer amount of work that had to be done coupled with the long, snowy winter has set them back.

City of Loveland Recreational manager Kevin Aggers said the damage to Centennial totaled more than $400,000 and has required new irrigation, new fencing and a revamp of both the infield and outfield for Fields 2, 3, 4 and Swift. All six diamonds need laser grading on the infield and the sidewalks have had to be repaired.

It's a similar story at Barnes Park softball complex, which may now be used for baseball as well. The city was able to salvage five of the ten fields in time for softball season, but the final five fields have racked up $480,000 in repairs. The brunt of the money for both parks will come from CIRSA and FEMA, leaving the final 10 percent to the city's general fund on an approved budget.

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But Aggers says the real time-consumer is new sod for all of the fields. The sod has to be cut, laid and then given time to grow back in, so the city is hoping for a Memorial Day opening for all of the fields.

"I mean it was just completely under water," Aggers said. "The challenge has been one of Mother Nature — we can't cut or lay sod with snow on the ground, or get water to it without a new irrigation system. Just the sheer complexity of damage we experienced — it's been hard."

For the rec leagues, that means a full schedule of games condensed into a shorter season. As a result, the registration numbers have greatly decreased; the league usually carries between 30 and 35 teams.

LBA president Erik Sethre says only about 25 teams will be able to form this season because of the dip in registration.

"Our enrollment is way off this year, which is of course disappointing," Sethre said. "You want to be able to play several different teams, and we might be able to only play four or five all summer. Then it kind of becomes like an intrasquad scrimmage."

The competitive league is also facing challenges. It elected to begin the season as planned, and practices have already begun. But without a field to play on, they have been migrating around high schools in Loveland, Fort Collins and even Longmont.

Some competitive coaches have even decided to hold practice on empty lots, dredging up memories of the "Sandlot."

In the grand scheme of things, a delayed start to a summer league is not the end of the world. But Aggers understands the frustrations felt by the baseball community. Still, rather than simply letting their disappointment get the best of them, Aggers says the Loveland citizens have been the silver lining for his hectic year.

"The upside to all of this is the wonderful volunteer help we have had; we would not be able to do what we have in the time we have without them," Aggers said. "We had probably 75 people at Centennial and up to 100 people at Barnes cleaning debris, and garbage so the contractor could come in and start building. I know that it's frustrating for the LBA and the players, but we should be in good shape by June."